Bloody Rose
by BleedingandDyingAlone
Summary: The poison is slowly coursing through Silver's veins. Shadow is torn between his grief for the younger hedgehog, and his will to make Silver's last days happy ones. Silver is trying to put a positive face on things, but can he keep it up? Shadilver. Rated T. Continuation to Bloodstained Ivory.
1. Chapter 1

All right. I finally have free time. So heres the continuation fic for Bloodstained Ivory. It's most likely gonna be shorter than the other two, and filled with stuff that could give people cavities, but might as well let Silver enjoy his time on earth... Llamas won't bother us, but the space goats are coming!

Bloody Rose

Chapter 1

Shadow blinked as he awoke. He glanced out the window. It was still dark out. His hand automatically flew to Silver's chest. Feeling a heartbeat, he relaxed. His gaze moved to the sleeping argent hedgehog. Shadow's hand trailed from his chest to his cheek.

Shadow looked on sadly as Silver's chest rose and fell in an uneven pace. All he could hope for was that the poison wouldn't be painful to the younger hedgehog. Looking at Silver's face, he could obviously see this was not the case.

The usually peaceful expression on Silver's face was replaced with a slight grimace as the younger hedgehog now had to fight for each breath he took. Shadow wished there was some way he could help the younger hedgehog.

Silver gasped as his eyes snapped open. He sat up clasping his chest. Shadow sat up next to him, cradling him worriedly.

"Silver?" Shadow watched as slowly, Silver took his hands off his chest. The ivory hedgehog's breath returned unevenly, as he smiled at Shadow.

"I'm fine Shadow. I really am." Shadow's ears pinned down onto the back of his head.

"Don't lie to me! I know you're not!" Silver winced slightly. Shadow slid off the bed and picked him up. Gently, he positioned the younger hedgehog so that he wouldn't be bothering his wound. Without giving Silver any time to reply, he dashed out of the dorm.

Rushing for the infirmary, he opened the door, and ran in. Confirming his hopes, he saw Tails already there. The twin tailed kitsune looked up at the sudden noise.

"King Shadow? King Silver?" Silver sighed as he looked at Shadow.

"Shadow, I'm fine." Shadow didn't listen to him.

"No you're not. Don't let me suffer seeing you like this!" Silver rolled his eyes in exasperation, but didn't argue. Tails walked over to them.

"Okay...so what's wrong here?" Shadow's crimson gaze fixed onto him as the ebony hedgehog replied.

"It's taking effect on him! I don't know what to do!" Sighing, Tails pulled a bench over to the two. Sitting down on it, his namesakes wrapped themselves together.

"King Shadow, I'm sorry, but I'm afraid there's not much I can do," Tails stated. Shadow's bare fists clenched.

"There's got to be something! I...I..." Shadow couldn't continue his sentence. Silver smiled at Shadow, and pulled the distressed hedgehog into a hug.

"Shadow...I know it's hard, but there really is nothing you can do to stop its process. It's gone too far into my system, so the least you can do is enjoy life with me," Silver said, trying to comfort the dark king. Shadow gripped Silver's arms, fixing his bloodred rubies on the ivory hedgehog.

"I can't just do that knowing that you could die at any time!" Silver's smile grew peaceful as he calmly gazed back at Shadow.

"That may be true, but I really don't want to spend how much time I have left crying and weeping. I want to spend it in happiness! And I can't do that if you're not happy!" Shadow looked away, anger at fate rising.

"How can I be happy when accursed fate wants to take you away from me?" he said, his voice rising. Silver could see how Shadow was feeling, but he had to persist.

"But Shadow, it's like I said before! You are the very source of my happiness! If you're happy, I can be happy. If you're sad, it makes me sad. Please Shadow, at least try!" Shadow sighed deeply then looked at Silver.

"All right. I'll try." Silver smiled brightly at him.

"Thank you. Besides, it's far more than these that binds us together," he said, pointing to the rings on their bare fingers. "So even when I'm no longer with, you, I'm always with you." Shadow looked down at the ring on his finger. His gaze travelled to that on Silver's finger.

"Yes..." he murmured. His gaze fell. "But I can't help but fear that I might forget you as time passes. This ring will fade. It won't last forever." Silver smile saddened visibly.

"I can't really do anything about that." His hand trailed over to rest on Shadow's chest. Shadow blinked at the hand, as he suddenly had an idea. Grasping Silver's hand, he slid one of the golden rings on his wrist onto Silver's.

"This is a lot more that a ring," he told Silver. "I discovered that this channels my power and controls it. Without my rings, I would become an untamed inferno. I've worn these for as long as I can remember," he said.

Silver looked at the extra ring on his hand. He slipped off one of his own rings and slid it onto Shadow's bare wrist. "Come to think of it, I've been wearing these for as long as _I _can remember. If they're anthing like yours, they'll never degrade. Maybe this will help you remember me by," he added quietly.

Shadow pulled Silver into a tight hug. Tails blushed as he viewed the proceedings. Inwardly, he really wished there was something he could do, but he knew there wasn't.

"I'll miss you," Shadow whispered as he held Silver in his tight embrace. He felt something wet break through his fur and hit his skin.

"I'll miss you too," he replied. After a few minutes of silence, Shadow pulled off Silver, still holding his hands.

"But until you have to leave, I won't let you go," he said. Silver's gaze lowered and he blushed. Then he gasped. Shadow shot a look at Tails. Tails shook his head slowly.

"I'm sorry King Silver, you will suffer. I can't do anything about that," Silver smiled reassuringly at him.

"Don't worry about me, Tails. I have someone to help me get through it." Tails smiled sadly. Silver's smile fell and his face grew stern. "And please don't do that. I'm not dead yet, so stop acting like I am." Tails grinned.

"If only everyone had your positive attitude, King Silver," Silver rolled his eyes and smiled. Glancing out the window, he could see a little bit of light peeking out. The sun was rising.

Smiling over at Shadow, he asked, "Do you want to take a stroll theough the palace gardens?" Shadow smiled back at him.

"Of course," Shadow answered his hands still gripping Silver's. Silver let go with one hand, his other still intertwined with Shadow's.

They headed out of the infirmary. Silver could see the guards standing by the palace gates, smiling, he could see it was Knuckles and Espio.

"Hello!" he said waving cheerfully at them. They smiled, a little uncertainly, but they smiled. The two opened the doors for the royals. Thanking them, they stepped out into the open. Shadow breathed in. He looked around before heading for the gardens, still holding onto Silver's bare hand.

Silver stopped when they got to the rose garden. The sun had cast a golden glow on the young healthy blooms. Shadow picked out a crimson coloured rose and handed it to Silver. Silver breathed in the flower's fragrance. Handing it to Shadow, he smiled.

Shadow pushed it back to him, and he held it to his heart gazing at Shadow. Shadow's eyes grew loving as he looked back at Silver. With his free hand, he took Silver's cheek, and got rid of the space between their faces.

Silver's eyes closed as his lips met Shadow's without resistance. He could feel the warmth of the sun bathing them in a golden light as it rose. One hand holding the rose to his heart, the other wrapping itself around Shadow, his lips curved upward, enjoying the magical moment.

Shadow's arm wrapped itself around Silver's slender waist as he enjoyed the kiss. His eyes snapped open as he felt Silver's chest straining and his heartbeat becoming more uneven. Pulling away, he held Silver to himself. He could hear the younger hedgehog gasping for breath and his gaze grew watery.

Closing his eyes, he refused to let the droplets of water slip out. After he got them under control, he whispered, "I'm sorry Silver, I shouldn't have done that," Silver nuzzled Shadow.

"Shadow, don't blame yourself. How were you to know that it would put that much pressure on my heart?" Shadow shuddered. Opening his eyes, he gazed at Silver.

"Let's go inside." Silver nodded, and grasping Shadow's hand, followed him indoors.

As soon as they entered, the smell of food hit their muzzles. Silver's stomach grumbled and Shadow laughed.

"Hungry?" he asked teasingly. Silver nodded. Shadow began to head for the kitchens. On the way there, they ran into Blaze.

"Shadow, Silver!" she greeted. Silver smiled brightly at her.

"Blaze!" She looked at him.

"How are you?" His smile still on his face, he answered her.

"Good to be alive!" Blaze exchanged a look with Shadow, and smiled sadly at him. Silver saw this and groaned.

"Like I said earlier, don't act like I'm dead. I'm still alive you know." Blaze nodded.

"I'm just going out for a stroll, then I'll be off for target practice before breakfast." They nodded and she walked off.

Shadow dragged Silver to the kitchen despite the younger hedgehog's protests that the cooks were still making breakfast. Upon their entrance, the cooks and helpers gave the pair brief bows before getting back to their jobs.

Out of the corner of his eyes, he could see a familiar figure run up to them.

"King Shadow! King Silver!" Shadow dipped his head in acknowledgement. Silver smiled at the pink hedgehog.

"Amy! It's good to see you up and better." Amy smiled cheerfully at him, oblivious to the fact that he was slowly dying.

"How can I help you?" she asked. Silver's stomach chose that moment to complain and she giggled. Shadow's lips twitched.

"Just something small to hold us until breakfast," he requested. She disappeared among the other cooks, and soon was back with a platter of small snacks. Shadow thanked her before walking out of the kitchen Silver in his wake.

"Here you go beautiful," he said, offering the tray to Silver. Silver took a small sandwich from the tray and took a bite out of it. Shadow smiled as the ivory hedgehog downed it in no time. "You _are _hungry," he exclaimed as Silver took another and ate it.

Silver blushed slightly. Shadow kissed his cheek. Silver blushed harder. As they walked along, Silver turned to Shadow.

"Shadow?"

"Hm?"

"I know you said this, but can you please promise not to let me go?" Shadow wondered why he would ask now. Still, he nodded.

"I don't ever want to let you go. Even when you're gone, I'll still hold onto you," he said, pointing to Silver's ring that encircled his wrist. Silver sighed.

"Thank you." His chest began to rise up and down unevenly as he fought for breath. Shadow dropped the tray and held him up. Silver looked thankfully at him as he battled for oxygen.

"Sh-shadow...I...I can't feel my leg." He said as he almost fell to the floor. Shadow looked at his wounded leg. What he saw made him flinch. The black had crept up his leg and looked even more gruesome than it had before. Gently laying Silver on the floor, he inspected his leg. It was cold although the rest of his body was warm.

"Silver, can you move your leg?" he asked. Silver tried, but he couldn't. Looking up at Shadow with tears bordering his vision, he breathed deeply. A tear slipped down his face.

"Shadow, I'm afraid that I'm truly beginning to die," he said in a calm voice. Shadow looked at him, his eyes widening.

"No! No you're not! It has to be something else!" Silver sat up hugging Shadow tightly.

"Don't deny it, Shadow. It'll hurt worse later if you do." Shadow couldn't stop a lone tear from cascading down his face. Silver stroked it away. "Don't cry, Shadow. I'm still alive."

Shadow shuddered and picked him up. "And I'm going to make these last days the best ones of your life," he said decisively. Silver smiled.

"That's much better."

Okay. I wonder how many days it'll take for the poison to kill Silver. It's going slowly but steadily. Poor Shadow. Poor Silver. You can kill me now if you want to... actually, nuuuuuu! Don't! Pleez! I wanna finish the fic! Review! Pleez!


	2. Chapter 2

After a crazily long hiatus that you people are gonna kill me for, I finally get back to my story. Finally. Finally. . . . . .Finally. So for your long wait, here it Finally. is.

Bloody Rose

Chapter 2

Shadow looked down at the younger hedgehog in anger. How could he be so calm about something like this? Shadow couldn't comprehend it. The peaceful expression on Silver's face didn't help either. He stared down at the argent hedgehog, trying to get over his emotions. Trying to understand it all. So far, he wasn't succeeding.

Silver looked up at Shadow, exasperation lighting his eyes. "Shadow, I'm still alive," he said sternly. Shadow shuddered. Thinking about it only made it all the worse. Talking about it was even more painful.

"And you'll stay alive!" Shadow said, trying to convince himself what he was saying was true. Silver looked at him for a long while.

Silver could see why Shadow was upset, but it wasn't like he could do anything about it. Blinking slowly, he raised his bare hand and slapped Shadow's cheek. Shadow flinched.

"What did I do?" he asked. Silver rolled his eyes.

"Don't make promises you can't keep, Shadow. You know very well I'm going to d-" Shadow placed his fingers over the pale muzzle of the ivory hedgehog.

"No you're not! Don't say it! Don't even think about it!" Silver rolled his eyes again. A worried Shadow was _just _what he needed.

"Don't make me do it again," Silver threatened. He knew he wasn't really being fair, but Shadow was getting worked up about nothing. Okay. So a slowly dying loved one wasn't exactly nothing, but still! It was kind of getting on his nerves.

Shadow sighed. He could understand why Silver was acting like this, but did he really have to be this harsh? I mean going about knowing you could die any time wasn't an easy burden to carry. He could hear Silver gasp.

"Silver!" The ivory hedgehog's teeth were gritted tightly and he looked like he was trying his best not to scream. "Silver, what's going on?" Shadow asked, not able to stop a hint of fear from slipping into his voice.

Silver bit the inside of his cheek so hard it bled. His one working leg hurt! It was like he was being ripped into with red-hot blades. His head jerked as he could feel the pain ripping from his leg into his torso.

Shadow picked up Silver and ran to the infirmary.

"Tails!" he called. The orange-yellow kitsune ran to him. Shadow set Silver down in the bed and Tails looked over him.

"Hold him still," the vulpine told Shadow. Shadow looked down at Silver.

"I'm sorry, Silver," he said as he pinned down the argent hedgehog. Tails took two syringes and inserted one into his working leg, the other into his midriff, drawing blood samples from him. The young fox didn't need to test it. He could easily see it.

"King Shadow..." Tails murmured. He handed the syringes to Shadow. Shadow looked at them he could see the blood in them. It was dark red. _Dark _red. It could almost be mistaken for black.

Silver screamed. Shadow turned to Tails, his eyes wild.

"Why is it hurting him?" he asked. "It didn't hurt this much with his other leg!" Tails looked at him.

"The nerves in that leg were already dying. Unfortunately, for the rest of his body, he will suffer. The poison is eating away at his living tissue." Shadow covered his ears as Silver screamed again.

"Isn't there anything at all you can do?" he asked desperately. Tails shook his head.

"I'm sorry King Shadow, but travelling at this rate, he could be dead by tonight." Shadow punched a hole into the floor angrily.

"Can't you use some sort of painkiller at least?" he asked. Tails gave him a look.

"Unless you want to speed up the poison's circulation, no."

Shadow couldn't stand it any longer. He ran out of the infirmary, out of the palace. Out of the city. He ran. He ran with Silver's tortured screams ringing in his ears. He just ran. He didn't want to deal with this. He wasn't ready.

He ran until he reached the shore of the ocean on the edge of his kingdom. Staring out into the watery depths, he sighed. He sat down on the sand and thought. He thought for a long while.

All the things his life was made of shattered. There was no real reason for him to live. He could imagine Silver slapping him on the muzzle had he been here at the moment. He could practically hear the ivory hedgehgo's voice.

"Shadow, this has to stop. You're being really selfish you know? Your kingdom needs you. And what do you want to do? You want to ignore them. You want to do your own thing. I'm ashamed of you, Shadow." Shadow winced. Even his thoughts were turning harsh.

Silver would say that though. Silver would want him to rule his kingdom. At that moment, Shadow wished he didn't have that responsibility. He could just simply hand it over, he had to deal with it, possibly forever.

"_Curse you, fate!_" he screamed at the sky. Clouds gathered, and soon it began to rain. It began to pour. Shadow looked up at the gloomy sky as raindrops battered his face mercilessly.

_Do you understand what I'm going through? Do you feel the pain I'm feeling? _he thought, gazing up at the cloudy sky for a long while. He lost all sense of time as he sat there, the rainwater on his face mixed with the tears that he was desperately trying to suppress.

He flinched as he thought about Silver's screams. The younger hedgehog was so much better than he in many ways, and yet, he was the one that had to die? Fate, he decided, was cruel. Very cruel.

Sighing and swiping a black and red hand over his eyes, he turned around and began to walk back. As he walked, the rain grew harder, and his quills were drenched with rainwater.

It took him a lot longer to come back than it took him to leave. It was a lot harder to come back than it was to leave. It was a lot more painful to come back than it was to leave. He sighed.

When he entered the palace gates, he didn't go into the palace, but instead went to the gardens. The flowers were soaked by rainwater, and Shadow couldn't help but think that they too were crying. Shadow walked to the rose garden, and sat there for a long while.

Silver must have loved those flowers, he realized. The young hedgehog would always come here with him. Not to the other parts, but to the roses. The flowers of love.

Shadow wanted his brain to stop functioning, along with his heart. He wanted nothing more than to be no one. To be nowhere. To not even exist. He would never have to feel pain. Never have to go through problematic situations.

Shadow closed his eyes and sat there. He sat there for a considerable amount of time with his eyes closed. Only slight movements to signal that he was alive. Rain beat down heavily on him as he sat there.

Meanwhile, in the palace, a young fox sadly watched an ivory coloured hedgehog as he drew in sharp, painful, breaths that could as well be his last...

Not really in the mode today. Was listening to Orochimaru's theme while writing this. It sound so depressing. That's why this was so depressing. Kinda short too. I seriously hope you don't mind. Especially after the crazy long break.


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